Under Scrutiny: Four 1200 dpi Scanners

Scanning Quality

Score (1-10)

With regard to scanning quality, these four models can be split into two groups. On the one hand, there were the Canon, Epson and HP, and on the other hand, there was Umax, all by itself. The difference is all the more striking if you consider the scores for color fidelity. The Astra 4800 performed slightly less impressively than its rivals, but did quite well nevertheless. A subsequent test often improves upon a previous result that was not as good. None of the four models chosen were far ahead of their rivals.

To sum up, the Astra 4500 works very fast, but at 75 dpi, its performance is poor. The opposite is true of the Canon D1250U2, which is in pole position in terms of both speed and in offering the most accurate digitization at 1200 and 2400 dpi. On the other hand, tests performed at 75 and 600 dpi are less impressive, since the colors turn out rather drab.

The ScanJet 4470c seems to be the ideal scanner if the scanned photos are only viewed onscreen - for web sites, say. Tests performed at 75 dpi are fast and very nice. The scanning function is rather disappointing however, because the application has a slight tendency to blur the images, but this isn't terribly serious, since it is easy to touch this up in Photoshop, which captures the image perfectly. Finally, we did not test scans of slides for either the Perfection 1250 or the ScanJet 4470c. You should check this function out for yourself if you need it.